H.P. Lovecraft’s Frightening Tales

In celebration of Halloween this Thursday the Department of Special Collections and University Archives would like to showcase the spooky works of famous pulp fiction author H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was an American modernist author who achieved posthumous fame for his influential works of horror fiction. During his life he was relatively unknown and only published in “pulp” magazines. He was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. There, at the young age of eight, he began writing his tales of horror. By the age of 31 Lovecraft had his first published work in a professional magazine. And at 34 he was a regular contributor to “Weird Tales” magazine. Unfortunately, Lovecraft had very little economic success and died in poverty at 46. “Critics attitude to Lovecraft was long colored by his publication in cheap magazines, low esteem for the horror genre in which he wrote, and his unique style which was often condemned as simply bad”. However, in 2005 Library of America published a collection of Lovecraft’s works. This collection shows that Lovecraft is now regarded as an important author and one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century.

Our department houses the collection of Lovecraft’s works published by Library of America. These works tell frightening accounts of haunting, murders, and other things that can only be characterized as weird. Each book also has its own unique illustrations that are as strange as the stories they represent.

So this Halloween Special Collections honors modern literature’s king of horror. To see these and other frightening tales visit our department, located on the fifth floor of McFarlin library, open 8am to 5pm.